Thread: MPC #82 - VOTING (long exposure: urban edition) 4.10.12 - 4.13.12

Thank you all for a wonderful MPC. Often times, the moderator mentions how hard of a time he had whittling down the finalists. This would be another one of those times. Honorable mentions need to be extended to systemoverblow'd and mathematics. I felt system's shot of the train represented the spirit of the MPC really well, but a lot of shots did and these finalists not only represented the the spirit, but they were very well executed and in some cases, experimental. Each is beautiful. Speaking of experimental, I really like mathematic's shot of Anchorage. It very nearly made the cut. In the end though, I liked Fuzz's experimental cityscape and jawpowhound's strong skyline.


I'm really excited to see how this voting shakes out. I don't have a favorite, I'm glad I had to choose 5 rather than 1. Voting ends Friday, as usual, if the collective would prefer to end it earlier so we can squeeze the weekend into the next round, fine by me. Otherwise, we could just extend the submission period through a weekend. It does seem most voting takes place in the first couple of days, but usually there is a bit more additional voting just before the cut-off. I definitely don't want to exclude any votes in this one. I feel it's going to be close.

Good luck and great work.

single



SchralphMacchio



Fuzz


Lonnie



JayPowHound

Thanks for the nod.

Had to go with Fuzz on this one. Something about that capture just really spoke to me. Great work all!!!

So this ends on Sat. My birthday is Sunday. Don't ya'll want to give me a birthday present in the form of a MCP? I can think of nothing I would like better than a happy feeling in my pants. lol.

lonnie, you should have shot my car! You would have won hands down ;-)

Lonnie - I would really like to see this rig you used. I'm baffled as to how it can move with the car yet not appear to be attached to it.

Originally Posted by Chainsaw_Willie

Lonnie - I would really like to see this rig you used. I'm baffled as to how it can move with the car yet not appear to be attached to it.

Here you go Willie.

Boom Rig Photo Tutorial

As I said in the post-em thread, I put a tremendous amount of thought, time, effort and $$ into this MPC and even tho the shot looks just like every car ad you've seen in the past 5 years, I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish. To me, anybody could walk down to the corner, find a scene, slap their camera on a tripod and click away, but I wanted to do something other than that, because that's what everyone else was GOING to do. I wanted to do something that was hard. I think I succeeded in that regard.

I'm proud of this shot because I had a vision in my head of what I wanted this to look like, and the final product is pretty dang close to that. Regardless of how the voting turns out, that's a turning point in my photography and opens doors in my mind that I can successfully translate the image in my head to a final product.

personally. i think all of these shot's are boring as fuck!.
and Lonnie's is the most boring.
i voted for 'jaypow'

^^^Whatevers. The regulars here keep these MPC's going and that is enough for me.

I voted for Lonnie because I like the Subaru and the initiative and I think he does the best job of taking advantage of the long exposure next to Fuzz. Schralph probably has the best picture to my eye but I don't think the motion blur of the lights do that much to enhance the picture...so for the first time ever my very important vote goes to Lonnie.

just with respect to the headlight motion blur ... I have an image without the passing traffic and I liked this one better. It added a greater dynamic to the Volvo, and the backlight coming off the front fender of the car added some really nice highlights.

This was a tricky vote for me. I liked single's image the best, but it lacked the long-exposure feel. Schralph's won out for me mainly because of the juxtaposition of the old car against the shiny new buildings in the background (and the headlight streaks + star-burst street-lights gave the long-exposure feel). Lonnie's was quite imaginative and very well executed, but t didn't really fulfill the urban aspect as much for me (interestingly enough, the day before Lonnie posted his first attempt, I shot a similar picture but from the inside of the car in preparation for submission -- but the final product didn't feel urban enough so I passed over it). I think this MPC really brought out the problem I often face while voting: do I vote for the best execution/image even if it doesn't fit the best perfectly, or do I vote for the one that fits the theme best but is maybe not the best execution/image?

I'm honestly surprised I even made the final cut. As I mentioned in the submission, mine was a pure experiment. Shot with the 35L at f/13 for 45 seconds -- I changed the focus from infinity to minimum about half way through -- so the nearer lights became out-of-focus bokeh-balls. I'm guessing the far-away lights didn't change because at minimum focus, they became too smeared and small to show up.

Fuzz, I liked your concept a lot, but the composition and angle still felt missing something. Too much black sky in the background for me I think. I wonder if the same technique could be executed from a bridge with a wider angle shooting downward more, to pull in more urban hardscape into the background? Also maybe changing focus 2/3 of the way? I think there is a lot of experimentation you can keep doing with that type of shot. looks really fun, great idea.

I kept thinking to myself, 'Miami Vice theme song' when I first saw your image

Originally Posted by SchralphMacchio

Fuzz, I liked your concept a lot, but the composition and angle still felt missing something. Too much black sky in the background for me I think. I wonder if the same technique could be executed from a bridge with a wider angle shooting downward more, to pull in more urban hardscape into the background?

You've hit up WHY I experimented. Because the scene I had to work with was so bland! And didn't have a lot of free time to explore for better viewpoints.

Originally Posted by Fuzz

This was a tricky vote for me. I liked single's image the best, but it lacked the long-exposure feel. Schralph's won out for me mainly because of the juxtaposition of the old car against the shiny new buildings in the background (and the headlight streaks + star-burst street-lights gave the long-exposure feel). Lonnie's was quite imaginative and very well executed, but t didn't really fulfill the urban aspect as much for me (interestingly enough, the day before Lonnie posted his first attempt, I shot a similar picture but from the inside of the car in preparation for submission -- but the final product didn't feel urban enough so I passed over it). I think this MPC really brought out the problem I often face while voting: do I vote for the best execution/image even if it doesn't fit the best perfectly, or do I vote for the one that fits the theme best but is maybe not the best execution/image?

I'm honestly surprised I even made the final cut. As I mentioned in the submission, mine was a pure experiment. Shot with the 35L at f/13 for 45 seconds -- I changed the focus from infinity to minimum about half way through -- so the nearer lights became out-of-focus bokeh-balls. I'm guessing the far-away lights didn't change because at minimum focus, they became too smeared and small to show up.

The flip side of this is why one participates. I've participated in these things "to win" and I've participated in these things to become a better photographer. In this case, it was the 2nd for sure. As you can see by reading the tutorial thread, I had a vision and the I had to figure out a way to translate that vision to this forum. to accomplish that, it took "engineering", creativity, trial and error, new image processing techniques and a whole host of other things. I pushed my personal boundaries on what I thought was possible with my own photography. There is no happier feeling in my pants than that.

To me, one creates art to stimulate a discussion. No other image of mine has sparked more discussion, more questions, etc. To know that I had folks look at an image and think to themselves, "how did he do that?", that's a pretty cool feeling.

Thanks for letting me play and thanks to Splitter for the topic. Honestly I didn't think much of it at the time, but it took me out of my comfort zone and took me down a path that I would never have traveled on my own.

great mpc, great theme, great pictures.

freak~[&]

Originally Posted by splitter

Voting ends Friday, as usual, if the collective would prefer to end it earlier so we can squeeze the weekend into the next round

yes please!

good mpc, tough vote but schralphs won out for me

Let's get a new topic up! 54 votes is definitely most of the regulars

^^ Sounds good to me...

Sent from my DROIDX using TGR Forums

Fine by me to call it. Alex seems to have this one in hand.

A word on the finalists chosen...

While Schralph and single's shots don't scream long exposure or have some (or a lot in Schralph's case) of the tell-tale signs of a long exposure, the available light/time of day necessitate a slow shutter. single's has an elegance and simplicity and the subject matter, while not exactly "inner-city", I think most would agree is the antithesis of wilderness. Not to mention the execution is spot-on, with a medium format film camera.

Schralph's shot is obviously very strong, the Volvo with the license plate provides a great foreground element. And I'm a sucker for starburst-y lights. In my very humble opinion, I do think the yellow cast is strong, I perhaps would have de-saturated that channel a bit but whether or not he "walked down to the corner" and hit the shutter, it was still a well-composed shot and he benefits from his environment in this particular MPC.

Contrary to Schralph and even the photographer's opinion, I like Fuzz's because of the simplicity of the skyline. Zoom-blur is hard to make successful, I think more things in the frame and less negative space quite possibly could make the shot too busy. Maybe a more interesting skyline would be better, but I like the concept, I like the simplicity in execution and the density of the bokeh on the left/bottom I feel make a pleasing composition.

I think we can all agree Lonnie's shot, while not winning, is the most successful of the group. He learned, he got new gear, his tutorial thread obviously helps us all learn something and he had a strong showing in votes. Much like single's, its urbanity doesn't overwhelm but it certainly fits the theme and the shot represents what I like about MPC's.

and Jay's, well, this is a interesting skyline, has nice foreground elements, and I think converts well to monotone. I'm actually surprised he didn't receive more votes.


buttahflake, I hope the next theme is east-coast mountain biking so we can get some dope participation from you and you'll have an opportunity to wow us with some spandex-clad ass-shots of flat single track in really convoluted woods.

Unless there is an outcry, Alex, take it and give us something to shoot the next couple of weekends.

thanks Chad. I'll wait for any screaming and think of a theme today at work.

Good thought on the orange. I didn't think to desaturate that channel. HPS light fixtures are the foreground light source, and they have a color temp of about 2000 and a CRI of ~20. It's not quite monochromatic but it's a very narrow-band light source and so much redder than anything else! With the long exposure that channel was going to be very strong unless I set the white point at 2000K. Add to that a little bit of 9,000K dusk evening light on the buildings, 4100K moonlight starting to filter through, and some other fluorescent and halogen light sources (headlights) in the scene lighting up the background ... 4100 seemed like the right color temp to use for white balance. When I dropped the white point down, the entire background scene just became way too blue. I'll try the desat approach, expecting it would leave the foreground a little more muted gray, but maybe that would do the scene some good.

splitter, you left the two best shot's out.
system's #1 and jaypow's #2.
how are the woods back here 'convoluted'?
there is rock's and root's and dirt. woods.
you're a dumbass

Fine by me to close this.

Originally Posted by buttahflake

splitter, you left the two best shot's out.
system's #1 and jaypow's #2.

There's been a lot of conversation in the past few MPC's regarding why some shots get left out and others picked. I appreciate everyone's participation and as I recall, I mentioned advres' train photo as unfortunately left out. Since there is always going to be disagreement about which shots get in, I'll answer your question why these 2 didn't make the cut for me.

system's shot is crooked. Also, the top of the shelter is cut out of the frame. While the person walking being fuzzy I think works in the photo, the windblown tree limbs on the right side don't work without being more crisp.

It's not a bad shot, but not as clean as Schralph's which were the 2 I thought went head to head for that spot.

Originally Posted by systemoverblow'd

Jay's I looked at for a while as well. I think there is a lot of foreground road that take's away from the composition. It's uninteresting dead space, not even negative space, but dead space. The Citgo sign is great and the myriad of streetlights with starbursts make for a nice line. But that foreground, for me, lessens the image. Had the frame ended with just a touch of breathing room under the lowest spot of red taillight light-trail, that would have made a really nice leading line into the heart of the photo with those starbursts, but it didn't. That might be a nit, and it is a bummer it didn't make the cut. Obviously you disagree and that's alright. His skyline shot was well composed and had an understated simplicity that I thought made it stand out from the rest of the entries.

Originally Posted by JayPowHound

2.

Your woods are woods. And they are typical. There is nothing wrong with them as woods and it is probably a very fun place to ride. They are busy in regards to photography. There is a lot of stuff in the frame. I know there are spots that have less distracting elements in the frame that would likely make for better photos. But, those days were likely about fun MTB'ing and not about pitcher-takin'. So, that was an unfair jab on my part.

Originally Posted by buttahflake

you're a dumbass

meh. from you? meh.

Lonnie, great work again ... I wonder how the outcome might have changed had you submitted the version with the high-rise building in the background. The context of that other composition was so much more dynamic and fitting to the theme, in my opinion, while being motioned blurred and OOF enough to provide great subject isolation and contrast to your car.

Buttah and splitter, we know that the best ways to always resolve these debates are: win an MPC yourself, pick your own rules, and pick your own photos! None of the moderators *ever* have to justify their choices. They pick photos because certain things resonate with them, and the collective votes for possibly completely different reasons! It's not like this is some kind of TGR conspiracy where we are creating a pecking order of nepotism ... we're just some random amateurs who can't sell that many photos trying to get each other to try new things. Chill out meng.

Originally Posted by buttahflake

you're a dumbass

Harsh.

You need to win to pick.

splitter - i appreciated reading your thoughtful comments and critiques. in addition to the photos, it's why i tune in to these threads.